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3.14 AVERAGE
3.14 AVERAGE
The writing undoubtedly beautiful but it doesn't strike me as a ghost story. Also, I extremely disliked the 3rd person omniscient POV (until the end . I found it distracting that sometimes we were in the mind of characters whose thoughts I couldn't care less about. It makes complete sense in the end.
The author utilizes the same lush and languid writing style as in The Thirteen Tale. Some have argued it feels as though a different author wrote each, but I disagree. Both books have the slow moving plot threaded with beautiful language. I feel in order to really love this book you really have to love language and how cleverly woven the story is. It's *sorry* a bit boring (like a lot boring). And in the end you don't really feel like you've accomplished anything.
I quite enjoyed listening to the chapters about how he ran the mill and how to increased the success with his business acumen. But it did at times seem tedious. It's not a fast book. It's actually very VERY slow. The concept is a literary investigation of wealth, ambition, and inescapable mortality.
I will sum up the book for those who want to know if it's worth their time:
The description on the book jacket seems a bit like a lie. Reading the jacket and reading the book is almost like two different novels - I would like to read the novel described on the jacket. I feel like it was sensationalized in a marketing ploy. Yes, I see why they wrote that but the story itself seems to unfold as though Bellman is a passive entity blessed with luck. I think I would have liked this better if it was a short story. It was unnecessarily drawn out, but I am a sucker for in stories.
Spoiler
once it's revealed the story was narrated by a rook I LOVED itThe author utilizes the same lush and languid writing style as in The Thirteen Tale. Some have argued it feels as though a different author wrote each, but I disagree. Both books have the slow moving plot threaded with beautiful language. I feel in order to really love this book you really have to love language and how cleverly woven the story is. It's *sorry* a bit boring (like a lot boring). And in the end you don't really feel like you've accomplished anything.
I quite enjoyed listening to the chapters about how he ran the mill and how to increased the success with his business acumen. But it did at times seem tedious. It's not a fast book. It's actually very VERY slow. The concept is a literary investigation of wealth, ambition, and inescapable mortality.
I will sum up the book for those who want to know if it's worth their time:
Spoiler
Basically it's about a boy who kills a rook and is then haunted by rooks in many ways for the remainder of his days. He meets death, personified as Black, and we are led to believe they are business partners in the mourning business venture, when in reality there was never that kind of agreement. Everyone who was with Bellman when he killed the rook dies. Everyone Bellman loves dies except his daughter Dora who loses all her hair and eyelashes and is grotesquely ugly, like a rook. When the lucrative business takes a downward turn, Bellman becomes extremely paranoid that he needs to pay Black more money. But all Black wants is for Bellman to remember and feel things. Then Bellman dies. I think Dora's hair grows back and she returns to normal.The description on the book jacket seems a bit like a lie. Reading the jacket and reading the book is almost like two different novels - I would like to read the novel described on the jacket. I feel like it was sensationalized in a marketing ploy. Yes, I see why they wrote that but the story itself seems to unfold as though Bellman is a passive entity blessed with luck. I think I would have liked this better if it was a short story. It was unnecessarily drawn out, but I am a sucker for
Spoiler
death personified
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I was so disappointed by this after the loveliness of The Thirteenth Tale...I kept hoping that something would happen because the base of the story seemed great, but the climax never appeared for me. Also, I felt that the raven pages were distracting and really cut up the story. Quite a few people have had positive reviews and I just don't see eye to eye with them.
I'm not entirely sure what I just read. It was a pleasant read, but there didn't feel like much substance to it. It felt substantially more amateurish than the author's first novel, with attempts at creating suspense that simply doesn't work.
This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes
Title: Bellman & Black
Author: Diane Setterfield
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: November 5th, 2013
Rating: 2/5
Cover Impressions: The EARC that I received featured the first cover but this appears to be the cover being used for the paperback. The image below, is the cover for the hardcover. While I do like the image for the paperback with the emphasis on time and the blue/black feathers, the hardcover version is much mroe appealing. I love the image of the Rook and the black ribbon as well as the scrollwork in the corners. It feels much more gothic and fits well with the overall tone of the novel.
The Gist: When William Bellman was a boy he killed a rook on a childhood dare. The arc of trajectory of the stone plays an important role in determining the outcome of William's life. As a young man, he begins working for his Uncle's textile mill and discovers and incredible acumen for the business. Years later, with his young family secure and his business thriving, William's luck takes a turn for the worst. Having lost almost everything, he strikes a mysterious deal with an even more mysterious stranger and sets his sights on the business of death.
Review:
I distinctly remember reading The Thirteenth Tale and falling in love with the author's style. It was an engrossing read with a well-planned mystery. I was expecting something similar from Bellman & Black. While Setterfield's writing style remains beautiful, and dark, and gothic, the plot of Bellman & Black simply did not hold up to its predecessor.
Having read the synopsis I was anxiously awaiting the clandestine meeting of Bellman and Black. It took a very long time to get to the magical part of the story. This interrupted my reading in the first 1/3rd because I was constantly waiting for the dark stranger to appear and to strike a deal. In fact, I feel like I spent the length of this entire novel waiting. I was waiting for the "mysterious stranger" to appear, waiting for Bellman to come into his own, waiting for his daughter to become a more interesting character. I spent so much of the novel waiting for something interesting to happen that I was not actually enjoying what I was reading.
There were some aspects of the novel that gave me glimmers of hope for a more successful outcome. The scenes involving the fever, for example, were incredibly well written. They were truly painful and simply written, but even through the language and phrasing I could see the pain that these sweeping deaths caused. This is where Setterfield shone; in the language of suffering
I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Bellman at the beginning of the book. He was young, energetic and full of life. As the book wore on I became more and more tired of the individual that William Bellman became. The plot was almost entirely character driven, which was unfortuate, because, by the end of the book, I simply didn't like the main character. I would have been a much happier reader if some of the other characters had been more fleshed out. There was great potential in Bellman's daughter Dora, and the seamstress, Lizzie but, unfortunately, they remained flat characters with little impact on the story.
The ending left me feeling unsatisfied. I spent the entire book waiting for the appearance of Black and when we finally get to learn his secrets they were not nearly as exciting as I had hoped. The end scene was actually incredibly anti-climatic. I spent several days after reading trying to piece together my feelings and force my way into liking the story, but I simply couldn't. I remain a huge fan of the beautiful way in which Setterfield is able to string words together but, in this particular novel, there was not enough plot to hold my interest.
I loved her first book, The Thirteenth Tale, but was disappointed with this second novel...it still had beautifully written passages, but something about the story itself was missing...
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this. It's creepy, in a Gothic novel sort of way. It's not a scary book by any means, unless you consider contemplating Death to be scary. It put me very much in mind of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I also loved. I would go so far as to say that if you didn't care for that one, you probably won't like this one much, either. It has a very similar feel about it.
Mr. Bellman is the protagonist here and as a boy, sets the arc of his life into motion when he kills a rook. He spends much of his life forgetting and only comes to remember and understand at the end. Black is an ominous and mysterious figure on the fringes of Bellman's life - a figure he alternately forgets and fears, dreads and seeks out.
This is a beautiful book. It won't be every reader's cup of tea, but it's a story that pays off at the end.
Mr. Bellman is the protagonist here and as a boy, sets the arc of his life into motion when he kills a rook. He spends much of his life forgetting and only comes to remember and understand at the end. Black is an ominous and mysterious figure on the fringes of Bellman's life - a figure he alternately forgets and fears, dreads and seeks out.
This is a beautiful book. It won't be every reader's cup of tea, but it's a story that pays off at the end.
Dread and desperation permeate this gothic historical novel. A rook, a black large bird with an evil-looking beak, is the motif throughout the story. A young man with a questionable background creates a wonderful life including friends, a fun and loving wife, beautiful children, and a promising career in a textile mill in the 1800s. Once the author establishes his success, she systematically strips him of all that is good in his life, slowly and steadily. Dark and morbid in tone, this never becomes scary or violent. But don't make a deal with a man in black.